Mistletoe
by demijayy
Summary: A little bit of Christmas fluff from Belgium and Romano. HUMAN AU Lovino and Bella.


Mistletoe

Lovino fidgeted with his tie few more times in the corner of the room. _I can't get this damn thing right! _He thought to himself, cursing past Lovino for thinking wearing a tie was a good idea. He gave up on fixing the stupid piece of cloth and gazed around the room. His coworkers were mingling around the holiday gathering as Lovino stood stiffly in the corner. He wasn't entirely sure why he decided to come to this party. It was the same office Christmas party every single year. Some of his coworkers would suck up to the bosses, and others drank way too much to be considered appropriate for a work function. The one thing that they all seemed to have in common however, is that they were all socializing. Lovino, on the other hand, hated these types of functions. He felt out of place and awkward. Normally it wasn't too bad at work because he could shrug off people trying to talk to him by lying and saying he had a lot of work to catch up on. Unfortunately in this type of setting, nothing was stopping anyone from talking to him.

It's not that he disliked people, or having conversations, he just couldn't stand the dull small talk that his coworkers forced in the workplace. Such as, "So how about that ball game last night?" or "My kids keep getting straight A's, can you believe it?" or "So when you are going to settle down Lovino? You know, I've got a girl who would be perfect for you." If he got asked to go on more blind date, he was going to scream.

"So Lovino," Janice cut off his thoughts about annoying coworkers on cue.

"Oh, hello Janice," he did his best to give a fake smile.

"Merry Christmas sweetie!" she gave him a tight and sincere hug. Lovino's eyes felt like they were being squeezed out of his head.

"Merry Christmas," he nodded, feeling relieved that she pulled away.

"So the other night I was out with the girls, and a crazy thought popped into my head!" she laughed.

"Oh really?" he asked, attempting to sound enthused.

"Yes, really. I remembered that my girlfriend Felicia would be absolutely perfect for you! She cooks, plays guitar and just recently divorced…" Janice raised her eyebrows and winked in Lovino's direction.

"That's really nice of you Janice… but really, I'm not interested in dating right now."

"Oh come on Lovino," she pressed. "You could at least give her a chance."

"No, Janice. I really, really don't want to," he shook his head with his hands snug in his pockets.

Janice continued to go on and on about her friend that would supposedly be perfect for Lovino as he stared out into the crowd. The same boring faces in the same boring workplace when suddenly, something was different.

Lovino fixed his eyes on a girl standing by the water cooler. She had a red drink in her hand that she idly stirred with a coffee straw. He looked from her black nail polished fingers, down to her striped tights. They were red and white stripes with what seemed to be skull heads with Santa hats on them. He tilted his head to the side as he studied her black combat boots, and then worked his way up to the skirt of her dress. Black and sleek, he followed up to her waist, then her chest until he finally met her green eyes.

The green eyes were staring back at him, with a smirk on her face. Lovino's eyes widened as he turned back to look at Janice, who was surprisingly still talking.

"-And that's when I knew she would be absolutely perfect for Lovino Vargas!" she laughed her annoying cackle.

Lovino gave a small but fake laugh in return, having absolutely no idea what she had said in the last two minutes. He wanted so badly to look back at the woman, but he didn't want her to feel like he was staring at her.

"Hello," a voice interrupted his thoughts once again. The voice wasn't one that he recognized however. When he turned to look the woman by the water cooler was right in front of him.

"Uh- he- Hey," Lovino managed to get out.

"Hi! I'm Janice! Janice Langdon" Janice laughed.

"Nice to meet you Janice. I'm Bella Walker," the girl nodded and gave her hand for Janice to shake over enthusiastically.

Janice's eyes travelled up and down the blonde girl's body, but her negative opinion of what she chose to wear to the office Christmas party was rather obvious on her face. The girl didn't seem to notice, or chose to ignore her expression.

Lovino logged away her name in his brain catalogue. His eyes were completely fixed on hers, although hers were locked on Janice.

"Oh Bella! What a pretty name! What department are you working in?" Janice asked with an air of fake sincerity.

"I'm an intern for Mr. Hogarth. I'm in graduate school, so I'm just getting the experience I can in before the 'real' world starts," Bella laughed musically, not at all matching the dark attire on her body.

"Oh isn't that just great!" Janice waved her hand in a frenzy. "Lovino! Aren't you going to introduce yourself to the new intern?" Janice suddenly switched her focus to Lovino and hit him rather hard on the shoulder.

Lovino used all of his inner strength not to slap her for that. He sighed and pasted a smile onto his face. "Sorry, I'm Lovino Vargas," he shrugged and put his hand out to shake Bella's.

"Nice to meet you," Bella spoke with a sly smile, that made Lovino think there may have been some sort of secret agreement between them that Janice was a pain in the ass.

"Well, I have other people to go and talk to. Lovino! You let me know when you want to go on that date, and I'll pass your number along to that girl. Better yet, I'll just look it up in the company directory. I know you'll want to meet her. I'm telling you, she's perfect!" Janice's words started to get jumbled into the commotion of the party as she walked away.

"Wait- Janice! Please don't-" Lovino's words were also lost in the crowd, because Janice didn't seem to hear him.

Bella looked down at the floor, seemingly trying to suppress laughter.

"It's not funny," Lovino snapped, possibly a little too harshly at someone who he had just met.

"I don't know, it seems pretty funny to me." Bella's face broke out into a grin, not seeming to notice or care about Lovino's tone.

Lovino's expression started to change from frustration to slight amusement. "God, she is just so… so-"

"Annoying? Aggravating? Irritating?"

"Any, and all of the above," Lovino sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "So how do you like working here so far?" Lovino asked the girl, who's expression changed to one of boredom.

"Do you really care?" She asked with sincerity. "Like honestly, do you care if I like working here? Or are you just trying to come up with something to talk about?" Bella raised an eyebrow and took a sip her red beverage that glinted with various colors from Christmas lightbulbs, strung up on the ceiling.

His eyes shot up in surprise, "Oh no- I mean I care- Well I—"

"Just stop, I'm just messing with you," she laughed her musical laugh once again and shifted her weight. "It's alright working here… not something I'd say is a… dream career? But it's getting me 'experience'. Isn't that what people are supposed to say when they talk about internships? What about you? Is this your… dream career?"

Lovino tilted his head to the side and thought about whether this job was a dream career or not. It's not something he had really given thought to. He got this job because math was something he understood, and it came easy to him. Being an accountant for a company just seemed like the simplest decision he had made in his life. He didn't really consider whether he enjoyed it or not.

"Jeez, don't think too hard," Bella rolled her eyes and took another sip of her drink.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure I gave you the right answer," he shrugged.

"The right answer? Is there a right answer?" She questioned and pulled at her skirt a bit to adjust the fabric folds.

"I'm not sure," Lovino concluded. "I don't know if I would call it a dream career, but I do like math, and I work in accounting."

"Hmm…" Bella seemed to mull this over in her mind while she drank down the rest of her drink.

Lovino watched her blonde hair brush her flush cheeks as she tilted her head back. He noticed the shadows the crevices of her neck cast. Her neck had a black chain with small golden skulls that flashed in the light of the party. She also wore a black lace choker that seems to mold to her pale neck perfectly. He noticed she had matching golden skull earrings that dangled just slightly below her earlobes.

"What are you staring at?" she asked suddenly breaking Lovino out of his trance.

"Wha—nothing! I just—"

"I'm kidding," Bella laughed. "Damn, you get so worked up. Have you tried relaxing? Maybe you need this mysterious red Christmas punch more than I do," her eyes widened before crumpling the cup in her hand.

Lovino looked over at the punch bowl, where Janice was getting her third cup of the night. Her face flushed bright red as she practically slapped Mr. Hogarth on the back with glee. His facial expression gave the impression he wasn't loving the interaction.

"I'm not sure I want mysterious red Christmas punch from this place. Look how drunk Janice already is," he nodded in the gleeful woman's direction.

"How do you know Janice didn't pregame before the party?" Bella raised her eyebrow toward Lovino in questioning.

Lovino hadn't considered this, but shrugged. "The bottom line is, I don't want to participate in anything Janice is doing or drinking," he shook his head and shivered at the thought. I didn't want to even come to this party in the first place. I'm not even sure what motivated me to come. It's the same stuff every year. Awkward conversations, drunk coworkers, brown nosing employees, hoping to get a larger than normal Christmas bonus…" Lovino sighed, and realized he had just complained a bunch to this girl who he had just met, and also interns for his boss. How could he possibly trust this girl already?

Bella laughed and looked around at the crowd before coming closer to Lovino to whisper in his ear, "Do you want to get out of here?" Lovino's eyes widened at the implications of what that might mean. "Like- do you want to go to the sushi place across the street and drink some sake or something?" she continued.

"Oh—yeah actually I do," Lovino's heart beat faster at the thought of spending actual time alone with this unconventional girl. Even if it was just at a restaurant across the street. He hated this party, and he would pretty much rather be anywhere else anyway.

Bella took his hand and lead him through the crowd of tipsy human resource, warehouse and office workers toward the elevator. No one seemed to notice their departure, which Lovino quickly thanked the Lord for. He didn't want to hear any rumors about office romance from Janice on Monday. They quickly gathered their coats from the closet, and slipped them on while walking toward the elevator.

Once in the elevator, Bella let go of Lovino's hand and leaned against the wall. Her eyes glanced at Lovino, who was standing rather awkwardly with his hands in his pockets and his tie askew. She studied the man's strong jaw line and dark brown hair that hung just a little in front of his eyes. As if he could read her thoughts, he brushed it back with his fingers and looked back at her. At that moment the elevator stopped and dinged at the ground floor. She strode out in front of Lovino and made her way across the atrium to the large glass doors of the building.

Across the street was a sushi place with a few neon lights outside of it. Advertisements for Sapporo and some brands of sake. Their breath was visible on the frigid December night. They both did a quick jog to the restaurant, while looking both ways for cars. The street was practically dead, aside from the few lights on in the apartment windows above.

The two went inside and found seats at the bar. Bella ordered a large hot sake for the two of them and then looked at Lovino.

"So… what do you like to do outside of work?" she asked him, noticing his eyes glance at her striped tights with Santa skulls. She pulled over her coat and hung it on the back of her chair, while he did the same. She watched as he rubbed his hands together to create a heated friction.

"Well, I like to…" he stopped and then looked up at the ceiling as though in thought. _What could he possibly have to think about? Was he really that boring that he didn't have any hobbies?_ She thought to herself while he considered the question.

"I like to play soccer with my brother," he said finally. "Sometimes I like to watch TV…" he continued. "I also really like cooking sometimes. I think that's because my dad owns a restaurant, so I just grew up with it."

Bella's fascination with the man grew at these surprising hobbies. This rather plain guy didn't seem like the type to play soccer, or cook. If she had just passed him on the street, she would have thought he didn't have hobbies. Although very good looking, he didn't seem like he was the type who had fun at all. He seemed to lack confidence and the spice of life. His olive skin seemed to glow just slightly in the low lighting of the restaurant. His burnt golden eyes looked for a reaction in Bella's facial expression.

"Really?" she asked, having difficulty holding the surprise in her voice back.

"Yeah," Lovino shrugged. The bottle of sake showed up in front of them, and he poured them both a drink in their small ceramic cups. "What do you like to do?"

"Well… I like playing guitar," she said. "I used to be in a band in high school, but it broke up after college. I still like to play though. I—"

"What kind of band?" he cut her off and threw back the shot rather quickly.

"I guess we were more of a punk rock, maybe grunge sort of genre," she shrugged as she drank down the hot liquid.

"I should have guessed," Lovino smiled just slightly enough that Bella noticed.

"Oh, look at the judgement on this one," she laughed and looked down at her skull attire. "Yeah, yeah I like skulls, big deal."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing," Lovino grinned and poured another glass for both of them. Bella noticed how quickly Lovino was opening up to her after leaving the party. She wondered to herself whether he knew that the workplace seemed to drag his personality down so much. "I actually like what you're wearing," he continued. "Not like—in that way like—I think it's cool you dress differently—"

"Thanks," she said quickly, hoping he wouldn't dig himself in a deeper hole. He seemed to appreciate the quick cut off to his rambling because he nodded and drank from the steaming cup. "You should have seen me in high school," she continued. I used to dress much more intense than this. This is like, a professional version of me," she laughed. "I'd rather dress how I want to, then blend in with the… common folk," she laughed and waved her hand in a dismissiveness.

"Oh, and I'm 'common folk'," Lovino asked teasingly, and looked down at his boring brown suit.

"Hey, you said it, not me," Bella laughed and brushed Lovino's arm with her fingers, looking for any excuse to touch him. If Bella hadn't been watching him, she wouldn't have noticed his eyes flash to her fingers for a brief moment before looking back at his cup on the counter.

Two large sakes later and both of them were laughing and talking as if they had known each other for longer than just a few hours. Lovino hadn't noticed that he had turned his body to face her, and she had done the same. Thoughts of the office Christmas party were practically gone from his mind as he stared at her perfect smile. He black eyeliner framing her green eyes smudged only the slightest bit at the corners. He had never met anyone like her before, and couldn't help but notice his beating heart as their conversations ebbed and flowed like it was the easiest thing in the world. The bartender suddenly made an appearance in front of them and glanced at her watch.

"We're going to be closing soon. This is last call. Do you want anything else?" she muttered in slight annoyance.

"No thanks," Bella grinned, not seeming to mind her tone at all.

Lovino quickly pulled out his card and handed it to the bartender.

"Wait- I got this, I asked you to come here!" Bella quickly searched around in her bag for her wallet but the bartender had already walked away with his card.

"Yeah and I'm the guy," Lovino shrugged, as if this was a trumping argument.

"That's a bit sexist, don't you think?" she asked, in a half teasing tone.

"Maybe I'm just traditional," he shrugged as he received the receipt and his card back from the bartender. He took the pen and signed his name before looking back into her green eyes.

"How very rare," she commented sarcastically and crossed one leg over the other, while crossing her arms.

"I don't know, that's just how my dad raised me and my brother," Lovino looked around at the restaurant and realized that nearly everyone had left at this point. Leaving only these two at the bar, the few waiters and the bartender.

"I think they want us to leave," Bella commented, while grabbing her coat from the back of her chair. Lovino followed suit and put his heavy coat on, bracing himself for the icy wind that would soon be pelting his face. He absolutely despised winter time.

"Don't you just love winter?" she asked him, almost as if asking his thoughts in a sarcastic manner.

"No, not really," he admitted rather disgruntled. The cold wind hit his cheeks sharply as they exited the restaurant.

"I love it, I mean—I love every season. I think there's something to love in every season of the year. Yes the winter is cold, but there's still Christmas, ice skating, cocoa, New Year's, and sledding." She began listing off activities that Lovino wasn't particularly fond of. But he was stuck staring at her cheeks as they flushed pink in the cold wind as she went on.

She suddenly stopped and looked above her. Lovino stopped as well and followed her eyes to an awning above them, with a small sprig of mistletoe handing above their heads.

"I also love mistletoe," Bella commented and bit her bottom lip just quickly enough that Lovino barely caught the action. Lovino swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at the girl's lips. They seemed to be just slightly chapped from the alcohol consumption mixed with cold air. But they looked so perfect, and full and waiting to be kissed.

He knew that if he thought about it any longer, he wouldn't do it. He closed the gap between him and kissed her. This girl he just met tonight at the awful office Christmas party. This girl who wore dark clothing that was barely appropriate for work, but somehow made it work completely. This girl who somehow, for one night made him forget about his boring job, his annoying coworkers and bland small talk. Her lips were icy cold for only a moment before they both warmed each other up with body heat. His hands slid to the small of her back to pull her closer. She leaned into the kiss and rested her icy fingers on the back of his neck.

After a minute, Lovino pulled away just slightly to see their hot breath create smoke cloud that rose up and disintegrated into the night air.

"Aren't you glad you went to that terrible Christmas party?" Bella whispered to his lips, hoping to bridge the gap between them once again. Lovino smiled in response and brought his lips to hers once again.


End file.
